Slovenia Weekly

A step toward reconciliation

10.07.2015

Photo: Tanjug/STA

These days, Europe is up in arms again because of Greece. After the many D-days, the next is on Sunday, when there is to be a yet another extraordinary summit of the Eurogroup in Brussels. Already on Wednesday, when meeting the French President Hollande, Prime Minister Cerar said that everything should be done to keep Greece in the euro area. He also said that the Greek government with its proposals must convince institutions and members of the euro area that it is serious about structural and other reforms.

It should be more serious than the world is when trying to convince relatives of victims of the Srebrenica genocide that nothing like it could ever happen again. Eight thousand people died, and even under the auspices of United Nations, an organisation founded on a charter of human rights, the world cannot make an ethical gesture and adopt a resolution that would recognise that genocide occurred and thus give the relatives of the victims at least a modicum of moral satisfaction. The Slovenian president, Borut Pahor, who is spending today with the people of Srebrenica, expressed his disappointment – similarly to other Slovenian leaders – over the failure to adopt a resolution, adding that he believes that this is a continuation of the politics of the 1990s, when the international community failed to take a unified stance on Bosnia and Herzegovina, which greatly contributed to the Bosnian tragedy. Tomorrow, President Pahor will be one of the keynote speakers at the main memorial event on the 20th anniversary of the genocide.

Staying with ethical issues: the Slovenian National Assembly has passed the Concealed War Graves and Burial of Victims Act. For almost 70 years, the mass killings in the aftermath of Second World War were an open secret, a taboo topic. Only after independence were the graves first marked with monuments, and the victims named. Yesterday, another step forward was taken. Slovenian politicians, otherwise almost proverbially divided into two camps, united and enabled the decent burial of everyone killed after the war, giving the victims the right to a grave and the relatives the right to remember.

A step towards reconciliation was taken, which is a step towards preventing the past from burdening the future of younger generations. Srebrenica needs this too, and Europe as well.
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The President of the Republic, Borut Pahor, will attend the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of of the biggest massacre in Europe after World War II at the Potočari Memorial Centre near Srebrenica on 11 July 2015, where he will deliver his address.
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On Wednesday, Prime Minister Miro Cerar was on a working visit to Paris, where he met the French President, Francois Hollande, and OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria. As part of his visit to Paris, where he was also accompanied by foreign minister Karl Erjavec, the PM addressed the OECD Council and met Harlem Désir, the Minister of State for European Affairs.
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On Wednesday, in the course of cooperatives week (4 July is the international day of cooperatives), the Minister of Development and Technology, Zdravko Počivalšek met Bruno Roelants, the Secretary-General of CECOPA, the European confederation of cooperatives and other employee-owned enterprises active in industry, services and crafts and one of the leading experts on workers’ cooperatives in the world.
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Infrastructure minister Peter Gašperšič met the Vice President of the European Commission responsible for the energy union Maroš Šefčovič, and the Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Miguel Arias Cañete, who are visiting Slovenia to discuss the establishment of energy union.
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On Monday, 13 July, three Slovenian police officers will go to Croatia to help their Croatian colleagues when dealing with Slovenian citizens. Slovenian police officers will take part in policing that Croatian police officers perform in connection with Slovenian citizens and, in particular, to enable faster communication with Slovenian tourists and make suggestions concerning Slovenian citizens. They will wear Slovenian police uniforms, but will not be armed and will not perform tasks or procedures within the exclusive competence of Croatian police.
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